Adressing Frank and Gene
"FRANK! GENE! What on God's green Earth are you two doin'? This ain't the time to stand around and think! Don't you see that big son of a bitch comin' for us!? SHOOT IT!"

"I'd send that fukcing drakedog back from whence it came but maybe you're forgetting that Brom's knocked out and helpless. I already wiped my entire fukcing squad the last time I was awake and tried to be useful, and I'm sure as hell not repeating it. Unless you want to give Brom a hand, Vynkor?"

If Vynkor responds in the affirmative regarding administration of medical care to Brom,
Load my shotgun and fire no more than two blasts at the drakedog,
then take cover behind the nearest object.
Otherwise,
Load my machine pistol, then drag Brom behind cover and try to resuscitate him, calling for help from my squadmates if necessary.
If at any time either Brom or myself are attacked, fire a volley at the nearest hostile.

"FRANK, GENE!" Buck yells. "What on God's green Earth are you two doin'? This ain't the time to stand around and think! Don't you see that big son of a bitch comin' for us?! SHOOT IT!"

Rapidly switching weapons and reloading, you retort, "I'd send that fukcing drakedog back from whence it came, but maybe you're forgetting that Brom's knocked out and helpless. I already wiped my entire fukcing squad the last time I was awake and tried to be useful, and I'm sure as hell not repeating it! Unless you want to give Brom a hand, Vynkor?"

Vynkor's reply over the comms is as sarcastic as it is swift. "Oh, yeah, I'd be happy to, just as soon as I fight my way through the half-dozen squids you left me! He should be fine, anyway. He's still got coagulants in him, unless I've been out longer than I thought."

But that's not good enough for you. Brom needs to be awake. You're a soldier, yes, but first and foremost, you're a squad member. You've lost too many people before - your entire squad at one point, which is why you're even here. Maybe you want to rectify that mistake now, even if it kills you... or perhaps you're just fighting for the lives of yourself and allies. Perhaps atonement doesn't even enter your mind. No matter the reason, you have no doubt in your mind what needs to be done.

And in this lovely moment of self-reflection, your thoughts are interrupted not by someone shouting at you as would be par for the course, but a set of sharp claws ripping their way across your chest, digging at the bone and ripping away flesh. You shout, screaming in agony as you fire your machine pistol at the drakedog, doing little to harm it but a fair bit to make it back away. Its armored skin deflected at least some of the bullets, you saw - these things are tough. But you don't stick around to fight it, kicking off the center console and ducking into a side passage on the left, just outside the outer ring: there are massive boulders on the left, and computer equipment on the right. The other drakedog follows behind you at first, but quickly changes its mind - for reasons as of yet unknown to you. These reasons soon become clear.

In the side passage with Brom, a dark shadow drifts above you, blocking out the light from above. You realize suddenly that not only has it sighted you, it wants to go in for the kill. Grabbing hold of some of the flagstones on the ground, you pull yourself downwards with your fingertips, drawing Brom down with you - this is done just in time. Directly above, the colossal monster - many times your size - scrambles its claws against the computers, reaching its long, sinewy neck into the gap you've found. Roaring madly - a wild, savage howl that causes your faceplate to hum with vibration and puts you into a cold sweat - the dragon chomps its jaws at you excitedly, eager for a taste of flesh. Closer, closer it comes - its jaws like a piranha, full of jagged teeth. You can't fight that thing - not without reloading your machine pistol first, and you're not fool enough to try. Fortunately, with the obstacles around you so tall, and so little room on either side, it can't quite get you without inserting its entire body sideways into the gap, which it seems loath to do. It soon turns its attention away and stalks towards the center of the room, disappearing over the top of the console. You hear Frank shouting on the other side, and the colossus roaring again in a mad fury.

"Brom, wake up!" you shout, pulling off his helmet. You slap him in the face a few times, but he's out cold. His eyes are closed, as though he's sleeping. His pulse is there, at least. Grabbing his shoulders, you give him a rough shake. "BROM!" you yell into his face. "BROM, WAKE UP!" You slap him across the face again, but it's no use. If you just had some decent equipment, you might be able to wake him up. Anti-shock meds might work, if you only had some of those available.

Out over the wall, you hear Frank screaming in agony. Buck shouts in terror.

And Brom still won't wake up.

((Gene does learn of the events of the rest of his squad, and that's the only reason he doesn't all-out panic this turn. I'll let Buck, Frank, and Vynkor relate those to Gene though.))

"I'd send that fukcing drakedog back from whence it came but maybe you're forgetting that Brom's knocked out and helpless. I already wiped my entire fukcing squad the last time I was awake and tried to be useful, and I'm sure as hell not repeating it. Unless you want to give Brom a hand, Vynkor?"

"Yes, yes! She'll give the man a hand as soon as she's 'ere, but she can't do that if we dun kill this giant fukcin' abomination first! God damn!"

if I can switch to my gravgun and charge it before the drakedog gets into melee range with me:
-Shout "Gravgun! Everyone outta the way!"
-Take my gravgun and shoot at the megadrakedog (as in, try and directly hit it with the gravbolt, if possible. Also, try not to catch any of my allies with it, if possible)
Quickly switch to my baton
Hide behind the central computer, or whatever it is, to at least temporarily get out of the megadrakedog's sightWhile the mega-drakedog isn't severely injured and stunned
-Do my best to avoid it, keep a distance from it and stay out of it's sight as much as possible (in that order of priority)
-Try and figure out if it has any convenient weak points
-if it manages to get into melee range with me
--Use my baton to try and block it's attacks and get it to back off (e.g. if it tries to bite me, bash it in the head, if it tries to claw me, parry it's claws with my baton if possible), or if it refuses to back off, try and get out of it's attack range myself (while trying to block any blows from it, naturally)if the thing gets to the point of seeming severely injured:
-if it is relatively close to me (<3m) and is stunned/incapacitated, or distracted by something/someone else, or has it's back turned to me (in other words, if I'm not in immediate danger of being attacked)
--Hit it with the baton, prioritizing weak spots if I've identified any and if I can reach them without getting myself in danger of immediate attack, and then pull back and resume avoiding it once I seem to have gained it's attentionif it pins down one of my squadmates
-Approach it from behind quickly, hit it with the baton (prioritizing weak spots if they're conveniently placed) and run away again (the goal is to distract it enough for my squadmate to be able to escape it's clutches)if at any point any other enemy comes into melee range and tries to attack me
-Hit it back with the baton
Do not exceed my max number of non-penalized baton uses
Try not to get too separated from my teammates

((We should all try to prevent this thing from pinning any one of us, so I recommend that everyone has some actions to help squadmates in immediate danger. Also, I've decided against trying to grapple it, seeing as I wouldn't be able to baton it effectively that way, so I've just decided to have my character hit the thing as much as possible if he gets the opportunity, even though that probably isn't very effective either ))

You check your gravgun, and almost lift it up to fire, but realize - there is absolutely no way you could fire right now without taking out everyone else in your squad - even Frank, who is currently rushing in front of you. ((I don't know if you wanted me to fire even with allies in the way. I'm assuming not. You would catch and pick up everyone in your squad with it though.))

Instead, you quickly switch to your plasma baton and leap off the nearby computer stack, headed towards the central stellaplex tower to find cover - which you soon do... in very limited quantities.

Your baton sparks, flashing with coiled lightning, as you plan your next move. If the big guy shows up, you're going to smack him in the face. If he tries to attack, you'll bash his claws or his face in. Preferrably, you'll keep it out of range entirely. And if it attacks one of your squadmates, you'll kill it in the fukcing face. Your thoughts are a bit wild, and they go wilder when you hear Gene shouting. The drakedog seems to have him pinned. That's enough for you - you begin pulling yourself out of cover and heading toward them, but it's not quite fast enough, and Frank is already there first.

A look of terror spasms across Frank's face, mixed with a bold new expression you've never seen on him before: one of fury and determination. The guy's scared out of his mind, sure, but he seems to have almost snapped and gone crazy. You can see something awakening within him - something new.

The colossal beast seems to have finished with Gene - or given up, and climbs over the barrier to the center of the hexagonal ring of computers. Before it's gone even a meter, Frank is on his feet, screaming wildly as he stabs it in the chest with a sword he got off a dead guy. No real plan involved here - he just wants to inflict suffering on the beast - and he does. It roars - more in a wrathful fury than agony - and wrenches away from the needle that's poked its skin.

You hear a snarling behind you.

Just in time, you turn - and see not just a drakedog, but a hiltorel soldier coming at you, spinning and floating through the air. The hiltorel, sword drawn, prepares a mighty swing, while the drake bares its teeth, growling and spitting.

You can feel your heart beating in your chest.

Debris drifts around you through the air.

As the sword sweeps out at you, you grimace and strike back with your baton with such force that you feel like your arm is going to break; it's a successful parry, and the squid's sword goes wide. You avoid looking it in the eyes, instead focusing on its companion, the drake. You press your foot against the ground to slow your backwards momentum - a bolt of pain shoots through your leg, but you hold firm and, as the drakedog reaches you, you grapple with the monster, grabbing it by the neck. It's heavy - heavier than you, quite possibly. It screeches and tries to twist its head around to rip your arm apart, but you hurl the beast backwards with a shove, sending it away from you towards the attacking squid with a kick.

The drake smashes into the squid and stops short as it transfers its momentum, flailing about in the open air, and the squid pulls itself into cover. At that moment, out of immediate danger, your ears seem to clear - you hear Frank screaming in blinding agony as you press yourself against the center console, hoping it'll still serve as cover with the squid so near. How long does this damn hack even take??

You look behind just in time to see the massive drakedog - and by gods, it's bigger than you even first realized - and it has Frank's torso in its mouth, ripping into him with his teeth. With an angry, agonized roar, it tosses Frank powerfully to the side - he hurtles, tumbling, and slams against the outer wall of the complex over to your right. The colossus is bleeding, spraying blood from its neck that floats through the air - wounded terribly by Frank's sword - which it seems to have decided is a bit worse than just a needle.

And with another horrifying roar that gives you the most unpleasant shivers, it turns its attention towards you.

Franks thoughts screeched to a halt at the voice of a believed-dead teammate that somehow managed to be heard over the thumping blood in his ears.

Today, some had to die, them or the Hiltorel. He couldn't try to keep to non-lethal actions, not now, not here.
All he had was a sword, and he had to use it...

There, looming right ahead, were the two drakedogs. The agile form of the normal one, and the deadly hulk that the alpha-drake possessed.

Subconciously knowing that there was no other way than straight ahead. No space for doubt, else he'd freeze up again.

Clutching the sword with trembling hands, shaking all over.

Frank braced himself...

Sword ready, Frank pushes himself away from the console he hid behind, to the upper middle console.
From there, he propels himself low at the small drakedog, slicing at its neck once as he passes underneath, yelling loudly in all the barely supressed panic.
Contacting the console behind the drakedog, he rights himself.
When the alpha-drake approaches and starts passing past said console
-slice at its head, pushing himself straight up if needed.

Blood floats about you - red blood - human blood. It's Brom's, mixed with Gene's and a little of Buck's. It all looks the same. Gene shouts in front of you, trying to reload his weapon as the beast attacks him. But you just sit there, watching, eyes wide. You cower, frozen in place. If you were a braver man, perhaps you could leap ahead and tackle the obstacles in your path; if you were a braver man, perhaps you could save your allies. But you are not a braver man. You are not a killer. You've told yourself this time and time again - it's your identity. You don't want to fight.

But you have, before. Just earlier. What made you do that? Why did you shoot that crossbow bolt? It was a sharp bolt, solid - intended to kill, not incapacitate. Was that you? Who are you? How can you even know who you are if you would do such a thing? Your mind races, and your thoughts escape your clutches in a chaotic spray, going every which way. You try to hold on - try to keep your sanity - but all that's left are very primal instincts: a desire to survive; a desire to kill, maim, and destroy.

You find yourself floating past Buck, counter-clockwise around the central stellaplex tower. As the massive superdrake gnashes its teeth, trying eagerly, excitedly to rip Gene to shreds, you hide yourself below the console on which it perches, just out of view - but not for long. At that moment, the monster tires of tormenting Gene and Brom, and begins to stalk towards Buck. Its head reaches over the central - and then its massive chest, thick as a tree trunk. So close, the difference in scale feels tremendous.

You've never been so terrified in your life. You feel like you're breaking - like your mind is falling to pieces, and you can't possibly hope even in your wildest imagination to hold it together. But you try... and in the trying, you find something new.

Something you didn't know you had.

A savage shout escapes your lips, like the battlecry of a madman, as you swing your sword wildly upwards, slashing and stabbing across its chest. The sword slices a shallow cut, barely piercing the thick, scaly armor of its upper body. Given the severity of the scratch, the monster doesn't seem to feel like you even merit its attention - but the stab you follow it up with is enough to make it change its mind.

You thrust the sword upwards, tip first, and it grinds against the thick, scaly hide as it pricks the beast. The colossus draws back with a roar - a roar of fury - of unbridled wrath - and turns its attention immediately away from Buck and onto you, screaming a livid roar that makes your faceplate hum with vibration. Pushing yourself away from the console, you look the monster in the eyes and howl wildly back into its face, readying your sword. Any conscious part of you that's left shouts that you're insane, but you're fighting on instinct now - pure and simple for survival.

The beast lunges at you, and you make a wild swing - but the lizard is far too fast and agile. In moments it's snatched you up in its powerful jaws and turned you sideways, crushing your chest between rows of hideously sharp teeth. Your ribs fracture and crack under the pressure - a feeling of agonizing pain that hardly registers in your mind as the beast chomps down yet again on your torso. But all you can think is that this is the perfect opportunity.

With an intense, desperate strike, your blade slides deeply into its neck from the side - almost to the center. You twist it, trying to inflict as much damage as you can -

In the next instant, the monster screams of pain and rage and flings you across the room with its teeth; you lose grip of your sword and it spirals away from you in a rapid spin, just before you slam into the outer wall of the building. You float there a moment, gasping for breath, and take quick stock of your injuries. Broken ribs, cut chest - and you're bleeding - but you're still alive, though in pain.

The wounded animal, crazed with a blind rage, crawls along the tops of the computer stacks beneath you towards Buck, around the central tower. To your right, a security turret swivels and turns towards you.

Your sword is out of reach.

You've wounded the beast, but it's still alive - and angrier than ever.

I check my equipment.
If I don't have a pistol:
-to Mekkin: "Hey, could you lend me a pistol or something one-handed?" I shrug my left shoulder as explanation.I fold my left arm against my chest and tape it down. That should keep it from flopping around too much.I look for two floating rocks, at least four meters above the floor. They should be big enough to completely hide me but not unmanageably large.
Using the consoles south of me as a springboard, I launch at the east rock, bounce back, and launch at the west rock, which I grab. The rocks should move north at a good walking pace as a result.As the rocks drift over the hiltorel, I jump quickly to the east rock, then bounce off it to the floor behind squid 5, who I shoot with my borrowed pistol.
I then jump quickly back to the east rock, then across to the west rock, and drop to the ground behind squid 3, who I likewise shoot.
I return quickly to the west rock and shoot squid 4.
Finally, I jump quickly to the east rock and cover behind it.

"Hey, Mekkin," you call. "Could you lend me a pistol, or something one-handed?" You shrug your left shoulder as an explanation. Your left arm jiggles limply and begins to drift upwards. You feel it, barely.

Grunting in displeasure, Mekkin pulls a laser pistol from a holster and tosses it in your direction. "I suppose it would be unfit rescue you and leave you without a weapon you could use."

You catch the weapon. While you'd much prefer not to associate with a scientist at all... but right now, you don't care.

You turn your eyes to the north, looking down the wing toward the squids. One of them fired a gravity gun while you were out: debris floats through the air - pebbles, rocks, mud, droplets of water and blood, small twigs and loose leaves. You see it all with alarming clarity - as though you've been dreaming all your life and now you've woken up. It must be the drugs, because you don't hear a damn thing: it's completely silent except for the screaming and shouting of your allies in the distance and over the comms. This gives you plenty of headspace to formulate a plan. This plan starts with using the rest of your tape to tape your arm to your chest, so it won't flail about while you move.

Looking about, you find two boulders - both fairly close to the floor. They've risen upwards slightly, so you take one and propel it towards the low entrance to the corner chamber. The second one, you have to manually lift up off the floor yourself and give it a shove in the right direction, but once it's moving, you go along with it. It's not going to be as high as you might like, but it should work... within reason. Silently, you drift along behind the boulders.

"HILTOREL GUARDS!" Mekkin hails them loudly, after you're well in the air, "YOU ARE SURROUNDED! IT IS HOPELESS TO RESIST!" This isn't quite the diversion you were looking for, but the squids' attention is successfully divided between Mekkin and your squadmates.

This provides the perfect opportunity for you to strike.

Moving like a phantom, you dart down from your boulder towards the right, landing behind a squid. He doesn't even see you there - doesn't even feel the laser gouging into his skull until it's too late to scream. His arms splay; he tenses and goes limp and pale blue blood leaks from the wound on the side of his head. You pointedly avoided getting his head tentacles it's just extra mass to burn through. With that, you leap back upwards, grabbing hold of your rock, and then leap towards the left boulder.

You have become shadow. In moments you've appeared behind another squid, distracted with Mekkin, and burned a hole straight through the side of his neck, completely bypassing his helmet. Child's play, honestly. You grin in pleasure - a grin with the countenance of Death: bared teeth, furrowed brow. You are the reaper. Back up towards your rock you go - but the rocks are starting to drift well off course at this point. Using them for cover much longer than this isn't going to make sense, especially considering the west-most one is getting tangled up in the trees and rapidly losing velocity.

At this point in time, something strange begins to happen down on the floor. A glowing white "aura" sphere surrounds the nearest surviving hiltorel - who immediately begins to panic, shouting to his squadmates. Another one appears to your right. One of the squids sights you and begins to open fire. You intuitively react, twisting your body out of the way as you dodge the plasma fire. You return fire, but you're starting to drift away from your rock now; you miss, and it only lightly grazes your target.

A second globe appears around the hiltorel that just fired at you, cutting off his ability to fire. He's a sitting duck - but then, so are you. They see you now, too. Someone - an ally, perhaps - has spoiled your stealthy maneuver. It's fine, though. You got this. You still feel like this is absolutely, 100%, no sweat. In fact, you feel pretty damn good about your chances.

((Your stealth rolls had a default +3 bonus. You didn't fail them at all until Saoirse began making them wonder where the stasis fields were coming from. Right now they're pretty sure it's your fault. Saoirse is presently invisible to them, despite stasis shields. Vynkor may or may not realize they're stasis bubbles. Depends on how well she's been listening to comms I suppose - and people on Screech often miss such details. Up to you whether she knows what they are or not.))

To the voice on the comms: "Hey, that ain't what I meant! Um, I meant we have the situation mostly under control, we just need some small, but very important things for y'all out there to do. As I said, we need someone to shoot at the squids down the hall until we..." glances back at the mega-drakedog, struggling to enter the room "take care of somethin' else!"

"Gearhead and I are almost at the plant, I'm gonna sneak in through the door you guys went in. If you see odd shield bubbles appearing round the squids, or sudden lightning, that's probably me."

I land my ship near the plant (preferable somewhere somewhat covered), keeping my thrusters thrusting downwards slightly too keep it from floating away. I also turn off the gravity portion of my gravbelt - no point in that here.
Then I attach my tether, get out of my casket, and make my way to the door of the plant. Once there, I deattach it and try to attach it to something near the door.
Then I take Spoon to use it to cover my while I move.
I sneak inside, and, going through shadows and cover, go forward until in a position where I am hidden but have a decent view at the squids.
Once there, I use my PDA to get a quick IR view of the room to see where the squids are exactly.
Then, I attack, trying to stay hidden (preferably attacking enemies that are attacking/about to attack allies):
-I stasis enemies, until 2 are stasis'd or I did 4 attacks
-I make lightning leap from an electrical circuit near an enemy to that enemy (using however many of my 4 attacks I have left)
If seen, I try to hide again in shadows and cover, otherwise I stay put.
In the meantime, if appropriate, I do a bit of self reflectionWhy am I kinda enjoying this? I'm not a soldier or criminal, I should be freaking out like Frank...but I'm fairly fine...
And just now I kinda took the lead even... I never would have done that back home....
Well, I kinda like it.

You land your ship outside the plant, keeping your thrusters pointed downwards just a bit, so the ship won't float away. Then you turn off the gravity of your gravbelt. No point in having that running. After attaching your tether, you get out of your CASKET and launch yourself toward the door of the plant. Then, you attach the tether to a metal bar inside the doorframe, past the airshield. It probably wasn't intended to serve as a tether anchor, but it'll serve just fine.

Then you insert yourself into the chaos.

As you pull yourself down the main path, pulling yourself slowly from one rock or tree to the next, you're confronted with one incredible sight after another. Corpses of drake-beasts float in the air, some surrounded with speckles of blood, all lit with by the red flashing lights. Behind these, an entire pond and flowing stream has lifted from its bed, suspended motionless by air; some water has condensed into spherical globules, glinting under the light from your helmet. You decide to shut your helmet lamp off, to try to stay stealthier as you continue.

The sights only get stranger the deeper you go.

Tiles have been ripped up from the path - entire chunks of paving stones, masses of dirt and moss - they all float in the darkness. Sirens sound in the distance - warning alarms - a corpse of a hiltorel soldier floats by, trailing droplets of pale blue blood that spatter on your suit as you "swim" your way past. And then you enter an even more intense debris field - a multitude of tiny pebbles, branches, dirt, debris, seemingly pulled up by some immense force.

One thing becomes immeasurably clear: when Alpha sets their mind to destroying something, they do a fukcing hell of a job of it.

Ahead of you, crouched behind a boulder, is a man wearing a light armor suit. The name "MEKKIN" is displayed in huge orange letters across his back. His helmet faceplate is scrolled back; he glances in your direction as you approach, gives you a quick look-over, and makes several short, sharp motions that clearly indicate his intent: "Get behind that cover and don't run forward." He's pointing to a boulder; your position yourself behind it and begin trying to make out where the enemies are... of course, you have tools for this. You pull out your PDA in your left hand and quickly set it up to give an infrared view of the enemies: it proves to be perfect. You can make out exactly five of them - and at least one appears to be dead.

Holding the PDA and using it for guidance, you try to get a solid stasis lock on the first one. In the darkness, it would've been nearly impossible, but with the PDA in your hand, it's much simpler - but it still takes you no less than three tries. Part of it, you think, is how strange it feels to be in zero-G. You're really not used to it. When you finally get it down, though, it throws the enemies into chaos. They start looking around everywhere for the whoever (or whatever) stasised the first guy in the back. They finally sight upon Vynkor, who is floating above them stealthily. This ruins her cover, but you act quickly and immediately stasis the squid that tries to fire at her. You're starting to get the hang of this. And it feels good. So good, in fact, that you almost wish you'd been in Alpha's squad, with their crazy charge-in-with-guns-blazing style of fighting...

...Nahhhhhh.

"Why am I kinda enjoying this?" you wonder. "I'm not a soldier or criminal... I should be freaking out like Frank was. But I'm fairly fine... And I kinda took the lead even." You were the first one here from Beta, after all. "I never would've done that back home. Well... I kinda like it."

You've stasis'd two enemies, who remain locked in their shells. You could zap them with lightning now if you wanted. They won't last much longer, for sure, and they have no idea you're there.

*thinking*
What the hell are you doing, Brom?!
How dare you call yourself a legend when you would throw your teammates away so easily! You need them just as much as they need you! Without someone to spread word of your deeds, you're nobody! You could have prevented this situation by considering their ideas and working with them to formulate plans. Now they're in danger of dying, and the you're the only one that can do anything about it.
You wanted to be a legend, so here's your chance. They can still be saved, and you can maintain your legendary status. All you have to do is stop cowering like Frank and MOVE!

*To Beta squad*
“Bob! We're in a lot of trouble here and could still use your assistance!
Gene and Buck have fallen, and I don't know where Frank got off to.
I'm going to try and handle the enemies in the immediate area, if you could get Beta squad to kill everything between here and the door, I'll try to get everyone out of here alive so we can finish this mission!”

Dash over to Gene and fire off a few shots into the face of the encroaching drake dog.
"I'm coming for you, Gene! Don't try to move, I've got you."
When I get to Gene, scoop him up and begin moving to the bottom-right corner of the room.
"You're not dying so long as I'm here. I'm going to get you, and Buck, Frank and Vynka all out of here safely.
Even if I have to kill every one of these ugly bastards myself!"
Drop Gene off in the corner and head back to Buck.
"Frank! Get over here and tend to Gene! I'm going back for Buck!"
While in mid-flight, reload my shotgun and take aim at the large drake's jaw.
At my closest point to the large drake, fire off two shots at its mouth with the intent of disabling its jaws.
If no such shot is available, I'll fire at its upper torso.
When I get to Buck, look over his injuries and see what I can do for him.

What the hell are you doing, Brom?? you ask yourself incredulously. How DARE you call yourself a legend, when you would throw your teammates away so easily! You need them just as much as they need you! Without someone to spread word of your deeds, you're nobody! You could've prevented this situation by considering their ideas and working with them to formulate plans. Now they're in danger of dying, and you're the only one that can do anything about it. You wanted to be a legend, so here's your chance. They can still be saved, and you can maintain your legendary status. All you have to do is stop cowering like Frank and MOVE!

With this rousing internal speech, you radio gallantly over the comms. Your thunderous voice booms brilliantly. "Bob! We're in a lot of trouble here, and could still use your assistance! Gene and Buck have fallen, and I don't know where Frank got off to. I'm going to try and handle the enemies in the immediate area. If you could get Beta squad to kill everything between here and the door, I'll try to get everyone out of here alive so we can finish this mission!"

Pulling yourself along from one computer stack to the next, you shout out, "I'm coming for you, Gene! Don't try to move, I've got you!"

It isn't long before you reach him - and not a moment too soon. The drakedog bounds after you, leaping quickly between the debris, roaring angrily.

"Come on, Gene!" you shout, all but dragging him behind you. Before long, you manage to get him to a quiet spot in the corner, but the monster is right behind you - and it's massive. It roars, chomping its teeth, but the walls seem to close in, and it can't fit much more than its head through the gap.

"Brom," Gene gasps. He chokes, coughs; he spits blood from his mouth; it drifts slowly through the air. "I'm... I'm..."

"Don't speak," you tell him, gritting your teeth. "Losing allies in battle isn't something I've had to deal with before, and I'm certainly not starting now! You're not dying as long as I'm here. I'm going to get you, and Buck, and Frank, and Vynka all out of here safely."

But Gene's eye are glazed over and unseeing. "I'm... I'm sorry," he chokes. "I... just wanted to... I - I..." He says nothing more. His arms are limp. You realize the gash on his neck is a lot deeper than you'd had any idea.

Gene is gone.

Your brow furrows ominously as you leave Gene's corpse in the corner and head back to Buck. "I'll kill every one of these ugly bastards myself!" you roar, launching yourself toward Buck, who is floating up near opposite wall/side of the dome. "Frank!" you shout. "Get over here and tend to Gene! I'm going back for Buck!"

In mid-flight, you reload your shotgun. The drakedog leaps at you; you fire a cacophonous blast at its face, and then another; it seems to swallow them whole without even flinching, but it at least makes the megadrake spin away. Its tail comes around and smacks you in the face. And then again, from the other side, before you've even finished reeling - and then again.

"BROM!" someone yells. It's Frank. "BROM, WE NEED YOU!"

You look over to the side, just in time for the drake to smack you upside the head yet again. This time it gets you in the nose; you start bleeding. Frank is being taken captive by the hiltorel - he's given up. Typical Frank. You don't want to leave him behind, but you don't have much choice, unless things decide to suddenly get better.

As you reach Buck, he rasps at you. "Brom," he gasps, clutching at his chest. "You idiot, I think that ol' asshole broke my ribs! Brom, this is all your fault!"

"How was it my fault, Buck?" you ask. "What was I supposed to do?"

"You could've stopped me from jumpin' on that varmint's back! I can't help being dumb!"

He's right. Buck most certainly can't help being dumb; this is a concept you took to heart long, long ago. But he's right; you could've helped him.

By His tender meatballs, is this SCAMPS thing...person...insane? Please dear Lord, give me strength, for I am this close to abandoning The Noodly Way and going full broadside on that landlubber!

"I got it, Esteemed Warrior, and I've found both the SCAMPS' attitude and his lack of faith in Squad Alpha very disturbing indeed."

~~~

Private channel to Caleb: "Caleb, Esteemed Soldier. Your job here is done, regardless of what this SCAMPS says. If they don't allow you to land, you stay close to the Nemesis. The Lord accepts, and endorses a heroic sacrifice for the sake of your crew, but I don't think sacrificing yourself for no good reason will humour him enough. Stay put, observe the battlefield, look for hidden threats, serve as a comm relay if you can. Do NOT follow us into battle, and may the Lord guide us all."

Fly over the ridge and VERY GENTLY land somewhere in the valley with the Nemesis, where the CASKET with the prisoner can be recovered quickly and efficiently.
Use PSI to make the landing smoother, if necessary.
Release the CASKET with the prisoner from my tentacle.
Disengage magnetic clamps.
Fly towards the stellaplex plant, keeping low profile and looking out for danger.
While flying, look for a nice, sheep-sized boulder.
Pick it up with my tentacle,
and carry it with me.

You fly with Caleb and Bob back to the valley of the Nemesis, and carefully set the captive and Caleb's ship down in the middle. The landing is delicate; it's not easy flying a CASKET holding another CASKET of its own size, and the thrusters are at 75% thrust or more for a lot of it, but the task is completed and successful. You disengage the magnetic clamps and, with a gentle touch of your mind, unwrap your ship's PSI tentacle from around the vessel.

"Stay close to the Nemesis, Caleb, esteemed soldier," you radio as you withdraw to join the battle with your allies. "The Lord accepts and endorses a heroic sacrifice for the sake of your crew, but I don't think sacificing yourself for no good reason will humor him enough. Stay put, observe the battlefield, look for hidden threats, and serve as a comm relay as you can. Do NOT follow us into battle, and may the FSM guide us all."

You and Bob fly back towards the Stellaplex plant at maximum velocity, although you make sure to make a quick stop to pick up a nice sheep-sized boulder with your ship's tentacle. What do you plan to use it for? Not necessarily anything in particular; it's just nice to have a boulder around that's good for lobbing at things.

Pasta above, SCAMPS can go short himself out! What does he expect me to do, amputate my leg at them?!

Having castigated SCAMPS in the only way I feel truly safe doing so- out of his earshot and in my head- I turn my attention to my teammates. "Yeah, I'm gonna stay out of this one. I'm no use dead, after all. I'll watch over Aloha or whatever her name is, you guys just get in there and be heroic. Thanks for patching me up- and thanks for the advocacy, Ishmael. Good luck. I'll try and keep an open line for you guys.

Oh, and...don't die, okay? You guys seem to be some of the least insane people around here."

I fly with Ishmael until he sets Aloysius down and then land beside...my ship. I then pop open the canopy and take out my electrorifle, watching over the captive's ship and opening a comms line to it.

"Hey, Alamo, I'm pretty shot up so about all I'm good for is making sure you don't do anything rash, alright? So how about we just sit tight and chat a bit, and then I won't have to taze you for trying to run or turn me into Swiss cheese or something. So, uh...got any hobbies?"

"Cho, since i'm basically guaranteed to die if I go into combat, I'm going to sit tight here, guard the prisoner, and use my ship as a comms relay so the teams can stay in touch with you guys."

I mute my comms for a moment and mutter irritably under my breath about annoying robots and their stupid rules, before unmuting them and politely calling Cho- not like it's her fault SCAMPS sucks, after all.

"Stay close to the Nemesis, Caleb, esteemed soldier," Ishmael radios as you and he land in the valley - he dropping off your ship, you settling in for the long haul.

"Yeah, I'm gonna stay out of this one," you say. "I'm no use dead, after all. I'll watch over Aloha or whatever her name is. You guys just get in there and be heroic. Thanks for patching me up, and thanks for the advocacy, Ishmael. Good luck! I'll try to keep an open line for you guys. Oh - and don't die, okay? You guys seem to be some of the least insane people around here."

Ishmael releases your ship, and his CASKET lifts up into the air. He gives a final encouraging speech. "The Lord accepts and endorses a heroic sacrifice for the sake of your crew, but I don't think sacrificing yourself for no good reason will humor him enough. Stay put, observe the battlefield, look for hidden threats, and serve as a comm relay as you can. Do NOT follow us into battle, and may the FSM guide us all."

"Okay, and don't die, okay?" you send as an afterthought - this time to both ishmael and Bob, who came along as well and put the box with the docs into your ship - or what's left of it. "You guys seem to be some of the least insane people around here."

Then you use your suit's controls to open a comm line to your own ship. "Hey, Alamo," you radio. "I'm pretty shot up, so all I'm good for is making sure you don't do anything rash, all right? So how about we just sit tight and chat a bit, and then I won't have to taze you for trying to run or turn me into Swiss cheese or something."

"It's Aloka," she stresses. "Aloka. Tuse Aloka."

"Right, So, uh... got any hobbies?"

"What kind of question is that? Are you just trying to make small talk?"

"Maybe."

You hear her grunt. It sounds for all the world like a verbal eyeroll. "I like carving knives of magaa stone. ...Or I used to. I haven't done that in a while. Ah... I don't really know. I'm a mercenary - what hobbies would I even have? Killing people? My whole life is work and training. You never stick around long and if you don't work hard enough, you get killed." She pauses, as though expecting a retort from you, and then she finally adds, "I like stargazing too. I guess that's a hobby."

"You damn kids! Cant even properly install a measly neural implant but can break fukkin GRAVITY when not under supervision! Probably broke that tentacle face gravity generator along the way!"

"Bob! Boy, better hurry up! I see some 5 enemy fighters coming straight at us and Saoirse seems to have decided to land instead of fighting them! Other support is short as well!"

Prepare mentally for quick changes in local gravity (and keep an eye out for an emergency landing spot that should be as soft as possible)head towards the incoming fighters and gain altitude on the way"Hey... ((reading slowly from IFF tag)) Anabais... im coming towards you from the settlement, trying to help you with those hiltorel fighters. If you mark your targets for me i'll try to pin them on the ground from above"try to anticipate which fighter Anabais is going for and force that fighter to go closer to the ground with laser fire. Repeat as often as allowed and necessary.keep anabais updated if any Hiltorel fighters seem to get lined up for attacking em

I am this close to abandoning The Noodly Way and going full broadside on that landlubber![/i]

((all your sides are broad! priest of the wet carbohydrate ))

You prepare yourself mentally for quick changes in local gravity. If the gravity suddenly "turns back on" you want to be ready. With this in mind, you head toward the incoming fighters, gaining altitude along the way.

You start up the comms to radio the lone CASKET chasing the hiltorel ships. "Hey..... Anabais... I'm coming towards you from the settlement, trying to help you with those hiltorel fighters. If you mark your targets for me, I'll try to pin them from above."

"Oh, that's fukcing lovely," someone laughs. Her laugh is like fingernails on a chalkboard. "I don't know what you'll fukcing manage, but by all means, be my decoy and join in! I LOVE when someone is intelligent enough to grab ship weapons! Let's wipe these bastards clean!"

The CASKET dives wildly towards one of the back fighters. Turret fire immediately begins to target it; Anabais's ship begins taking damage. You quickly try to focus on the craft she's diving for, but it doesn't do much good, and Anabais is forced to break off the attack.

"The fukc was THAT? What the hell are you even doing? I thought you said you were going to fukcing help! Fukcing green bastard, what do you even have on that ship?"

"A robotic arm laser," you reply calmly.

There is a dead silence. The silence continues for several seconds. "No jokes?"

"Just a robotic arm laser."

"What the hell - did they give you any sort of training at all before they shoved you out of cryo? Is this the kind of shit they expected us to put up with? When I get back I'm going to DRAIN SCAMPS' brain tank and fill it full of the Nemesis commanders! String them up by their fukcing flesh, hooks and chains!" She rants for a good 15-20 more seconds, and then spits out, "Just distract them before I dive in, got it? And after you get home, see if you can't be a good little boy and get some actual fukcing weapons!"

Without even waiting for your confirmation, she starts back towards the fighter group. This time you make a point of focusing the one that she attacked last time. The turret waves about wildly on the podship, and then faces up towards you, firing a stream of poorly-aimed plasma in your (very roughly) general direction. Another of the fighters breaks off and starts to head up towards you, but it has quite a climb ahead of it. "Anabais, one is breaking off towards me," you radio.

"Great! One less squid for me to deal with!" She laughs wildly, and you watch as her ship streaks past your target in a blur, positively obliterating it. You're not sure what she hit it with, but whatever it was, the ship practically splintered. "Bastard's wishing he stayed home today!" she cackles raucously.

"Oh hey Bob, can you come and h-"looks at map
"...How did you get all the way over there?
...
Ok, nevermind.(( Note to Tal: here start action for Bob as Cha0zz is still gone ))
How about you wait a bit and join up with Caleb and Ishmael, and then fly towards here together with Ishmael when they've dropped off our prisoner?
And shoot at the bad guys if you see any, but try to keep safe, ok?"

Oh Bob-Boss has Idea!
Maybe Bob-Boss should escopt, ecort, escot, .... help deliver prisoner.
And do boom-boom on bad guys!
Is good idea you think Soairse-Boss?

Follow Caleb and Ishmael and shoot at any enemy that comes into range using each weapon max 1 time.
When they drop of the prisoner, land and also leave the box I collected behind with the prisoner for later pickup then take off again

Carefully land my casket before the complex
Get out of my casket and start spinning up my minigun
Charge into the complex and run to where mekkin and vynkor are.
Sweep my minigun over the locations of the squids in the open space infront of me
Take cover
If anything hostile comes too close: shoot it with my pistol (1 time)
If anything hostile comes into melee range: whack it with my crowbar (1 time)

You soon catch up with Ishmael and Caleb, and the three of you continue to the canyon with the Nemesis. Caleb lands, Ishmael sets down Caleb's CASKET, and you land. Landing is very, very, very tricky. You manage it though, just barely. Might not be a good idea to attempt a quick landing - do it nice and slow and you'll be good. You decide to note this for later. You get out, leave your box there ((making sure to secure it firmly to Caleb's wreck)), and take off to head back after Ishmael.

((Not much I could do. I got you as far as you could go (even while ditching your last actions) but I couldn't really do too much. I set up the movement rules for the mission with stuff like this specific situation in mind. You could've at least made it to the complex, landed, gotten out, and gotten ready to attack, but you went too far by backtracking toward the Nemesis first. On the plus side, your box is delivered to Caleb. I'll count that towards your post-mission rewards, but that's the best I can do without punishing the rest of the players for not breaking the rules.

(shouting) "Who the fukc is making fukcing bubbles down there‽ Can't you tell I'm trying to run a fukcing stealth operation? Did the lemony scent of incompetence rub off on you or something? Now my cover is ruined!"
(a "whisper" that's closer to speaking volume) "Void-eaten bastards are just fukcing incapable of pulling off a simple flanking maneuver."

I take a few heartbeats to cool down before addressing my teammates. "So how did you break gravity? Is it permanent?"

(shouting) "Who the fukc is making fukcing bubbles down there‽ Can't you tell I'm trying to run a fukcing stealth operation? Did the lemony scent of incompetence rub off on you or something? Now my cover is ruined!"
(a "whisper" that's closer to speaking volume) "Void-eaten bastards are just fukcing incapable of pulling off a simple flanking maneuver."

I take a few heartbeats to cool down before addressing my teammates. "So how did you break gravity? Is it permanent?"

"Bubbles? I saw that in a movie once - must be them squids usin' black magic again! I'd stay away from that shady business if I were you.

Frank pushed a button or somethin' and ruined my perfectly darn good hack. It probably ain't forever. When we blow this place to kingdom come, I'm sure it'll go back to normal. "

Looks at the megadrakedog looking straight at him, somewhat worriedly and quickly:

"Uhhhh anyways we've got a bit of a dragon situation here, we'll talk later, just get over here!"

To Gene:

"Gene! Stop twiddlin' yer thumbs and shoot this thing, it ain't gonna kill itself! It's made quick work o' Frank, and now the fukcer's set his nasty eyes on me - I ain't no Frank though, and this son of a bitch is gonna learn that soon!"

Last edited by Hapchazzard on Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.

"Err, no, that was me. I'm terribly sorry for making sure they can't shoot you or move, and ruining the stealth operation you didn't tell me about despite me saying I was here.
Should I just leave again and let them kill you?"

"Anabais, Esteemed Commander. Ishmael here. I am coming from the South with Bob; I shall try to get enemy's attention focused on me. I am no good with long-distance fighting at the moment. Hopefully it'll give ye plentiful opportunities to sink the bastards!"

"Bob-boss, your ship is damaged. Please keep distance from the enemy, and use cover. Try to hit them from far away, OK?"

Quickly enter the fray!
Open the channel to the Hiltorei (lacking that, a general civilian channel) and read the Pastalm XVII to them:

Your most humble servant, that I
Might become a waiter on high
Serving your immutable word
To diners.
I wear white today, that I
Might be graced by the slight magenta hues
Of pureed tomato, with basil, and garlic
As between bites I spill your blessed sauceliness
Upon my blouse.
Another helping, please, that I
Might munch gratefully
In abject reverence
For two eternities.

Fly towards the nearest enemy,
AND smash the boulder I carry with me into his cockpit.
Use my tentacle to tear off his weapon.

IF the first enemy is dealt with,
fly towards the next one,
AND slap him with the tentacle.

At all times: EVADE!!!! Use PSI if needed for better evasion!
If the impact is imminent, roll the ship into the attitude that presents the sideshields to the incoming projectiles!

"Err, no, that was me. I'm terribly sorry for making sure they can't shoot you or move, and ruining the stealth operation you didn't tell me about despite me saying I was here.
Should I just leave again and let them kill you?"

"Uhhhh anyways we've got a bit of a dragon situation here, we'll talk later, just get over here!"

"More than the usual dragon situation?" I look across the room. "Oh. More than the usual dragon situation."
[…]
"Hey, thanks for the help, Saoirse! I'm gonna go over here now. You can handle these guys, right? Yeah, no problem!"

I frown a bit as Aloka (not Aloha- oops!) replies to my admittedly rather inane question, my mind warring with the drugs in me, attempting to help me not make any more of a fool of myself. Sounds like she's had a pretty crappy life, really. I feel kind of sorry for her, and feel more sorry for her when I remember that we're probably helping to cause her life to come to a rather painful end. I decide not to point that bit out- she's obviously not stupid, and probably worked that bit out for herself anyway. Instead, I continue along with our slightly absurd conversation.

"Stargazing, huh? I always lived in the city, and my father was away a lot doing whatever the hell he did in the defense force, so I never actually saw the stars until I went to space myself for training- and then I never really had time to look at them. Constant training after that, just like you. Till everybody got killed by pirates on Anba and I got blamed for it, though since then I've hardly even seen a window, much less the stars."

((It's another attack. Won't get to you immediately though; he needs to find firm footing.))

((Got it, thanks))

Briefly consider charging the dragon, but chicken out
Vault over the northern consoles to where Frank isif I notice Frank's sword drifting away from him as I'm vaulting across the consoles
-Nudge/push it towards him, if I can do so easilyif I notice the turret that is targeting him
-Try and move to a position where I'm both in cover from the south(drakedog etc.) and the turret itself, if possibleWhen an enemy approaches me in melee range with the intent to attack
-Hit it with the baton until it is either dead/incapacitated or has backed offif the dragon, God forbid, manages to grab me
-Wildly hit it in the head/neck until it lets go
Do not exceed my max baton uses in the turn
-